About the author

Zygmund Dobbs was one of the great Old Right Conservative activists of the 20th Century. Raised in a communist household, and an active Trotskyite in his early years, he would become a fierce and articulate opponent of communism. Even more importantly, his research led the way in exposing a greater threat—the slow, incremental march of Fabian socialism.

Mr. Dobbs founded Local 205 of the United Automobile Workers Union of America and was later ousted from the Union (and the CIO) after addressing a congressional committee on the efforts of communists to infiltrate labor unions.

He worked in both Army and Navy intelligence, was a consultant to the F.B.I. on subversive activities and also a frequent consultant to the House Committee on Un-American Activities. He served as Special Investigator of Soviet subversion for the State of New York.

In 1948, Mr. Dobbs became acquainted with Archibald B. Roosevelt (the youngest son of President Theodore Roosevelt) when both were supporting Robert A. Taft’s presidential campaign. Along with several other conservatives, they formed The Alliance, Inc. as an organization dedicated to researching and documenting subversive activities across the social and political spectrum. Mr. Dobbs served as Research Director of the group, publishing pamphlets such as Conquest Via Immigration,Manual for American Action (by Mr. Roosevelt) and Manning Johnson’s Color, Communism and Common Sense.

Late in the 1950s, the Alliance was replaced by the Veritas Foundation, with assistance from conservative Harvard alumni. Mr. Dobbs continued as Research Director, and it was under the Veritas mantle that he published two landmark works that have only increased in relevance since their release. These were Keynes At Harvard: Economic Deception as a Political Credo and The Great Deceit: Social Pseudo-Sciences.

Mr. Dobbs’s personal library contained an extensive collection of rare materials on Bolshevism and socialism, and was used by the F.B.I. for research. (The F.B.I.’s bibliography of works borrowed from Mr. Dobbs, prepared in 1949, runs into 67 pages.) The library is now housed at the Ludwig von Mises Institute.

Among the honors Mr. Dobbs received for his work were the Liberty Award from the Congress of Freedom in 1959 and an Award of Merit from the American Academy of Public Affairs in 1965. His son Frank Dobbs provides a recent bio on History News Network.